Well I wasn't really expecting that, Swansea has been a hard place to go for all the teams at the top since they came up to the premiership, so to go there and score four goals was some performance. And let's face it we haven't really seen anything in pre-season that would have led you to expect that we could go down there and put in such a convincing performance.
We started slowly, in fact we were starved of the ball for the first five minutes. But they are a pretty decent side, they were at home and it was the first game of the season, so it wasn't totally unexpected. What was noticeable to me, was that as soon as we did get a sniff of the ball, we started to create chances or threaten their goal. During that first twenty minutes or so, before the opening goal we created three or four pretty good openings. Which surprised me a little as it's usually a tight game down there, with really good chances few and far between.
It wasn't that big a surprise when we took the lead as we had been growing into the game, but what a goal it was. Giggs has took some stick for his performance, he wasn't at his best for sure, but he still makes things happen even then. It was Giggs who spotted Van Persie in the box, the ball left the Dutchman with plenty to do, and oh boy, did he do it, with a brilliant right foot volley.
Minutes later it was two as Van Persie caused panic in the middle of the box, the ball landed at Valencia's feet and he crossed it first time to give Welbeck an easy tap in. A great moment for Danny, he's got that monkey off his back straight away and can now go on to give the kind of performances those of us who have always rated him, know he can deliver. In fact i thought he'd had a pretty good game before that, alternating with Giggs, on the left and behind Van Persie. He was always finding space, making himself available and rarely gave the ball away. For the rest of the half United took complete control and comfortably saw the half out.
Swansea re-organised themselves at half time and brought a new centre forward on and got themselves back into the game without really looking as if they would get the goal they needed. Rooney came on for Giggs around the hour mark, I'd have preferred Kagawa, but the politics of keeping Rooney at the club trumped that i suppose. Rooney played reasonably enough, but some of the reporting has been way over the top. I'm not having it that the third goal goes down as an assist, he played the obvious ball and then made a good run, sure, but Welbeck's run was equally important in providing the space needed for Van Persie to smash the ball home gloriously to make it 3-0. In truth it was just a glorious solo goal from Van Persie and we shouldn't be talking about assists at all for it.
They did manage to get a late consolation goal as Welbeck tried to be a bit too clever and lost the ball just outside his own box, which i'm definitely not going to lay into him about. But even if i had, he more tham made amends, with a glorious second and United's fourth, right at the death. Rooney fed him and he produced a glorious chip that pleasingly landed in the back of the net. It was a goal his performance deserved.
I shouldn't have any grumbles after that scoreline, but if i did, it would be the decision to bring Rooney on ahead of Kagawa and i was a little disappointed Januzaj didn't make the bench, hopefully the young Belgian's time will come.
Roll on next Monday night, I can't wait.
We started slowly, in fact we were starved of the ball for the first five minutes. But they are a pretty decent side, they were at home and it was the first game of the season, so it wasn't totally unexpected. What was noticeable to me, was that as soon as we did get a sniff of the ball, we started to create chances or threaten their goal. During that first twenty minutes or so, before the opening goal we created three or four pretty good openings. Which surprised me a little as it's usually a tight game down there, with really good chances few and far between.
It wasn't that big a surprise when we took the lead as we had been growing into the game, but what a goal it was. Giggs has took some stick for his performance, he wasn't at his best for sure, but he still makes things happen even then. It was Giggs who spotted Van Persie in the box, the ball left the Dutchman with plenty to do, and oh boy, did he do it, with a brilliant right foot volley.
Minutes later it was two as Van Persie caused panic in the middle of the box, the ball landed at Valencia's feet and he crossed it first time to give Welbeck an easy tap in. A great moment for Danny, he's got that monkey off his back straight away and can now go on to give the kind of performances those of us who have always rated him, know he can deliver. In fact i thought he'd had a pretty good game before that, alternating with Giggs, on the left and behind Van Persie. He was always finding space, making himself available and rarely gave the ball away. For the rest of the half United took complete control and comfortably saw the half out.
Swansea re-organised themselves at half time and brought a new centre forward on and got themselves back into the game without really looking as if they would get the goal they needed. Rooney came on for Giggs around the hour mark, I'd have preferred Kagawa, but the politics of keeping Rooney at the club trumped that i suppose. Rooney played reasonably enough, but some of the reporting has been way over the top. I'm not having it that the third goal goes down as an assist, he played the obvious ball and then made a good run, sure, but Welbeck's run was equally important in providing the space needed for Van Persie to smash the ball home gloriously to make it 3-0. In truth it was just a glorious solo goal from Van Persie and we shouldn't be talking about assists at all for it.
They did manage to get a late consolation goal as Welbeck tried to be a bit too clever and lost the ball just outside his own box, which i'm definitely not going to lay into him about. But even if i had, he more tham made amends, with a glorious second and United's fourth, right at the death. Rooney fed him and he produced a glorious chip that pleasingly landed in the back of the net. It was a goal his performance deserved.
I shouldn't have any grumbles after that scoreline, but if i did, it would be the decision to bring Rooney on ahead of Kagawa and i was a little disappointed Januzaj didn't make the bench, hopefully the young Belgian's time will come.
Roll on next Monday night, I can't wait.
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